51Âþ»­

An entrepreneur has set up his own company at 51Âþ»­ Leicester (51Âþ»­) which offers free help and advice to fellow students wanting to start a business.

Freddie as he appears in the 51Âþ»­ Dare to Do advert

Ambitious Freddie O’Shea, also known as Freddie Horner, has started the Student Enterprise Movement (SEM) while continuing with his studies in Marketing Management at 51Âþ»­ and runs it on an entirely voluntary basis.

Since setting up the SEM, Freddie has personally spoken to 100 students who have pitched their ideas and asked for pointers to help turn their concept into a bona fide business.

The logo for the Student Enterprise Movement

And such is the demand for the service that Freddie has three equally ambitious students working alongside him in the team. They are also in the process of moving into a bigger space in 51Âþ»­’s Innovation Centre.

Freddie has enjoyed a successful couple of years at 51Âþ»­. In his first year, Freddie and his team won first prize in the annual Fox’s Lair competition, when 51Âþ»­ students pitch their ideas to Leicestershire business leaders. He also appears as the business student in 51Âþ»­’s Dare to Do TV advert (pictured above)

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Freddie said: “I have never even thought about making money from the SEM. I want to give back to the students. It is not fair on them to charge for our services. I want the SEM to be an extension of what the university offers. Students deserve the time to turn their ideas into reality.

“The SEM was launched to promote entrepreneurship within education. We want to move away from the idea that if you are a student you are limited to being a student.

“Together we have accumulated knowledge through our start-up experience and industry experience and want to share this with others. Our passion is to mentor and guide other young entrepreneurs as they develop through their studies and business experience.

“We are not just helping students in Business and Law. There are students all over the campus with business ideas from fashion to furniture design.”

Freddie and his team – Economics student Ryan Clarke, Computer Science student Dominic Bryan and Business Entrepreneurship student Simon Glennon – have ambitions to turn SEM into a similar operation to 51Âþ»­ Square Mile and pass it on to a new team when they complete their studies.

Freddie added: “I am also going into colleges in Leicester to speak to younger students about their ambitions in business and offer advice.

“I want every student to know about us and I want them to leave their meeting with us feeling confident and inspired.”

If you want to speak to Freddie about SEM email Freddieoshea@semovement.co.uk